May 10, 2007

Q. You shot 75 but don't feel all that bad about it?
TIGER WOODS: Well, I hit the ball pretty good today. I had three three-putts today, and consequently 3-over par.

Q. Which one bothered you the most of the three-putts?
TIGER WOODS: All three (laughter). I don't think I've ever had a three-putt that felt good.

Q. What do you have to do to get back in the tournament tomorrow?
TIGER WOODS: Just keep doing like what I did today, stay patient, hit the ball as consistently as I did all day. Just got to make a few more putts.
Greens are a little bit tricky to read, different grain out there than we're used to, and I had a tougher time than the guys at the top of the board.

Q. This is going to sound like a loaded question, and it's really not. Do you enjoy playing this golf course, or is this one that you find a little more harder than some? Your scores here have been higher than the norm.
TIGER WOODS: I enjoy this test. I mean, you have to place the golf ball. That's how Pete designed all of his golf courses. You've got to place the golf ball correctly, and if you don't there's going to be a consequence for it.

Q. When did you get put on the clock?
TIGER WOODS: We got put on the clock on 6.

Q. Seemed like there was a full hole and a half, actually between the 14th and the 15th hole. Are you surprised you weren't put on sooner? Were they fast or were the guys in your group slow?
TIGER WOODS: They were put on the clock -- on our front nine they were put on the clock. And then they got going. Then we got going just a little bit to try and make up the gap. But it wasn't enough.

Q. Throw anyone off?
TIGER WOODS: No, no. You're going to take the allotted time because obviously the wind conditions. You're just hoping that you don't have to back off any shots.

Q. When you hit the ball like you did today and it's windy, will you go out and practice or just putt?
TIGER WOODS: No, under these conditions it's really hard to do any practicing out there because the wind is blowing so hard the ball is not really flying. You can't really get a read on how it's flying.

Q. When the greens are tricky, does the wind play a part at all?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I had one putt where the ball blew up the hill a little bit, a putt on No 2., a right-to-left putt that blew uphill. Just got the wrong gust.

Q. At Doral you mentioned that some of the putts were not going in the direction necessarily that your memory had. Did you find some of the same things here?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, definitely. I mean, the greens are new. They're not quite settled yet, and it's going to take a little time. If you put the ball in the correct spots and leave yourself uphill putts, you can be aggressive. When you're putting across slopes, it becomes a little more of a test.

Q. Longest putt you made was probably, what, the ten-footer on 18 to save par?
TIGER WOODS: That's about right, yeah.

Q. How much did ten years of experience on this course help today on these greens?
TIGER WOODS: None (laughter).

Q. Is it just that much different?
TIGER WOODS: It's different grass. We're used to putting on overseed, and now we're putting on Bermuda.

Q. Some of the slopes are different?
TIGER WOODS: They're lessened, they're softer. But still, more than anything, it's just the type of grass we're putting on.

Q. How muddy and messy would it have been if they hadn't done all of this work?
TIGER WOODS: Well, it would have been really tough. I mean, you know, on our so-called dry years, we still would be picking up mud in the practice rounds.

Q. Any today?
TIGER WOODS: No, none today, no, not at all. These fairways drained great and the greens are draining great. They don't have them up to speed, nor do they want to get them up to speed. But it's kind of nice to actually play the golf course this dry. End of FastScripts